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Slow here is a drat of some of the things that I leanred that might be helful to other new folks:

(Carving Section) Drifting turn to burn off speed.

When your first starting out on ski boards there will be a time before you get to the point of carving but beyond the pointing your hand to turn stage. In this sweet spot of the learning curve you may find yourself going too fast for comfort or safety of those around you.

A simple way to burn off speed is a drift or soft edge turn. What you want to do is with your body still aimed downhill quickly use your feet/heels/hips to slide your ski boards out to the right or left (one side may be more dominate for you). It’s very similar to the moves you make to complete a hockey stop, but rather than going all the way to a stop you fling the ski boards out to one side and use them to burn off speed then bring them back to pointing down the mountain.

As a beginner this can be especially helpful in tight areas like cat walks or beginner runs where you don’t feel like you have enough room to make the larger pointing turns safely. Once you get the skid down, you can add some knees into the inside of the turn and you will start to carve as well.

(Lessons section) If you really want to try ski instruction then try going to the ski school with your ski boards and show them the boards. Tell them I want to learn how to “carve,” how to get these boards on edge during my turns. Is there anyone here that can help me? It’s likely there will be a few instructors who understand with some modifications, carving on ski boards is similar to carving on skis, so they may be able to help you with just that, so long as you make it clear that is what you want to be the focus of the lesson.

(Poles Section) It may take awhile to get the skating thing down. And in very flat and crowded lift lines with longer ski boards you may not have enough room to always skate. Another option here is to get collapsible poles. These are poles that nest into themselves going from extended to half or one third of the length. You will often find these in “trekking” or snow shoe section of the store, not with the rest of the ski poles. Make sure you get the snow baskets for them if they don’t come with the poles.

You can put these in your backpack when you don’t need them (but be aware if they stick out too much they may grab the bar on the back of the lift when you are seated and they are in your pack). Or you can just hold them, collapsed, in one or both of your hands like batons (in the middle of the pole rather than at the handles). As you get better at skating and get to know your resort you can leave the poles behind, but collapsible poles are a happy median because you can have the versatility of having poles when you need them, but not having them be extended while your ride.